By Jeff Seldin, Ayaz Gul VOA News | June 18, 2020 WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD – U.S. officials say they are seriously investigating Taliban claims that Islamic State in Afghanistan was plotting to assassinate Zalmay Khalilzad, the American peace envoy for the country. The Taliban have recently shared with journalists a video of two blindfolded men in their custody, saying
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 18, 2020 Afghan security officials say a mortar shell has exploded inside a religious school in northern Afghanistan, killing at least nine students. “The initial investigation shows that the blast was caused by a mortar that had somehow been carried inside the madrasah,” police spokesman Khalil Asir said on June
By Ayaz Gul VOA News June 17, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Afghan authorities said Wednesday Taliban attacks in the country’s north have killed at least 17 security forces and injured about a dozen more. The violence comes as warring sides in Afghanistan are preparing to meet in Qatar later this month for a preliminary round of peace
Michael Hughes: Pentagon officials have said the Taliban are not meeting key conditions of the withdrawal pact it signed with the United States nearly four months ago. Meanwhile, a recent UN report revealed that the insurgent movement is still in bed with al-Qaeda, violating – at least in spirit – one of the key promises
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan June 15, 2020 KABUL — Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has announced that it has decided to cease activities at the Dasht-e-Barchi hospital in Kabul, following a deadly attack at the facility’s maternity wing last month, saying that similar “horrific” attacks may occur there in the future. In a statement on June 15, the
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 14, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Afghanistan’s warring sides have agreed to open long-awaited peace talks in Qatar, possibly later this month, to negotiate a sustainable cease-fire and political settlement to years of conflict in Afghanistan. A spokesman for the Taliban insurgency on Sunday confirmed to VOA the breakthrough development but did
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 13, 2020 Afghan officials say at least 17 people have been killed in a string of attacks across the country. There was no claim of responsibility for the series of attacks on June 13. Violence in the country has spiked in recent weeks despite progress toward the launch of direct
News Intervention: On June 9, Pakistan Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa went to Afghanistan, unannounced. This is the first visit by a prominent Pakistani after the US-Taliban peace deal in February this year. It’s also the first prominent Pakistani visit after the results of Afghanistan elections… it’s clear that Pakistan’s ISI and their senior
VOA News Ayesha Tanzeem June 12, 2020 ISLAMABAD – An attack on a mosque in Kabul during Friday prayers killed the imam and three worshipers and wounded several others. Mawlawi Azizullah Mofleh, the imam of Sher Shah Suri mosque in the Kart e Char area, was a well-known religious scholar. This is the second attack
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 11, 2020 ISLAMABAD – The Taliban on Thursday rejected a top American general’s assessment that the al-Qaida leadership is still based in Afghanistan, insisting that no foreign fighters linked to the group are present in the country. The contention, analysts say, underscored a long-running trust deficit between the Afghan insurgency